What a wake up call!

I joined 3FC in August and started eating healthy. Did really really well and lost just under 17 pounds. Then as usual, life got in the way. I called it "a break," started eating crappy, but still weighing myself every day so that I wouldn't gain back what I'd lost. I told myself if I could keep off the fifteen pounds until the holidays are over, I'd be happy.

I've been pigging out for a couple days and then eating very restrictively to make up for any gains. I've done this for about a month and thought I was getting away with it. People were mentioning they noticed I had lost in the face. Feeling pretty good. But the truth is, I had gone back to binging. I just was over restricting and over exercising after the fact to compensate.

Well this week I got my rude awakening. I woke up at three a.m. (after a dinner of huge amounts of pepperoni pizza and lays) in excruciating pain, and had to have my grandmother bring me to the emergency room (no insurance!).

Turns out I have a bad gallbladder and my months of dieting followed by weeks of binging caused a massive gallbladder attack. They gave me meds and set up an ultrasound to see if I need surgery.

To think that I caused actual internal damage with my eating habits is sickening!!! I'm a little relieved, because knowing I have gallbladder disease explains a lot of physical issues I've been dealing with for the past few years, but at the same time I'm scared out of my mind because I'm without insurance until it goes into effect in January. Now I have a pre-existing condition and it could be a horrible situation.

I have been shocked back into my good eating habits. As scary as it is, I'm almost thankful for it, because I feel like it's a slap in the head from the universe, screaming at me to take care of myself.

Has anyone else had a scary wake-up call like this?

__________________

Brenda-Sue

"It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or h*ell." -Buddha

I had something called CIU a few years back. Basically your body becomes super-allergic for no apparent reason resulting in full body hives for months or years. My episode lasted 8 months and it was horrible to either be itching so bad I was crying or drugged so bad I could barely sit upright in a chair.

When it was over it really started me thinking how my morbid obesity WAS going to end up affecting my health with a chronic condition such as diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. Nothing bad had happened yet, but this episode proved to me that I wasn't immune and also how much I didn't want to live with an ongoing condition I could have prevented.

I have gallbadder attacks from greasy meals, at first I had no clue what they were and one day it dawned on me that I was getting those horrible pains every time I ate too much grease. Yeah lesson learned.

The good thing.. now you can move forward, chalk it up to a lesson learned (and acutally learn from it), and move on keeping this in your rear view mirror so you don't back into it

ps. didn't they do away with the whole pre-exisiting conditions thing with insurance? I don't pay attention to politics, but think I remember hearing something like that?

__________________~~Sommer~~
Determined to find "Fawn", the skinny chick within me!

wow, great to hear on the pre-existing conditions thing, that will help so many people. A lady here in Pittsburgh just died because she had some blood pressure problem, couldn't get insurance cuz of a pre-existing condition, and died 5 months later. She was married and I believe had one or two little boys. Tragic.

I had my gallbladder out in 06. I wish it had been a wake up call for me.

But mine came a couple years ago. I never knew my real dad, he left when I was 2. I had met him once when I was 15 but that was it. I received a mystery e-mail on myspace from someone I knew was related to him. They gave me their number and told me to call them. I did and she told me that he had just died of complications from diabetes (which also runs on my moms side and has killed my great grandmother and my great aunt).

Turns out that he had lost both legs and went blind before his kidneys finally failed and he died. I didn't know him, and I figure it's karma, he was a bad guy. But either way she wanted me to know for health reasons.

I'm kind of terrified. My last A1c was only 5, which is GREAT. But, I know it's something I have to stay on top of. That A1c was quite awhile ago anyhow, I'm getting another in February. Hoping ALL my labs by then are better.

This happend a few years ago and I still have not managed to keep the weight off. I lose, I gain, I lose.

I'm finally working on the mental issues that go with it though and I think it'll work out this time. I'm too young to be worried about this stuff.

Hope all works out with your insurance!

__________________
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it's the courage to continue that counts." --Winston Churchill\

is there a certain age to get this?
i had never heard of it and i looked it up and several of the symptoms i had a few weeks ago, i dont remember what i ate that day though but this was the worst pain ive ever felt, im 15 so i didnt know if maybe im to young or what but my mom wasnt home, only my dad and i sometimes tell my mom is im hurting or not but i never tell my dad, i hardly ever talk to him but it was so bad i was about to say something to, i couldnt stand up straigh and felt like i was going to throw up and it was night and i tried to fall asleep but it was so bad i couldnt get to sleep.

Yes, there are no more pre-existing conflicts with insurance. They HAVE To cover whatever you have regardless to prior issues.

As far as I know that pre-existing conditions clause is only valid provided you have continuous coverage . In other words it can't be held against you as long as you go from coverage to coverage with no breaks or pauses. I hope I'm wrong.

I hope you are feeling better. I hope this is a true wake up call for you. I had plenty of wake up calls in the past - I just quickly hit the snooze button and fell back to sleep.

Wake up calls can be pretty scary from what I read. I hope I never have one but get it in gear before one comes my way. I see so many people with health problems and my own Mom and Dad both have or had heart problems. I see a change on the horizon and believe whatever steps I am taking as of these past couple of weeks are going to help get to a person in much better health. That's what it is all about for me....being in better health.

GhostGirl811, you should see a doctor. Pain like that is definitely not normal. But it's hard to say what it was (and none of us here are doctors). I think you can get gall bladder disease even if you're young, but it could be so many other things... It could be a kidney stone, even. Do you drink enough water?

I agree you should see a doctor ghostgirl, the pain being that bad you should go to urgent care. My friend had a pain so bad she could barely stand turned out she had some intestinal infection and had to stay at the hospital for treatment- they told her she could have died if she ignored it. DIED... And she was 23 at the time.

Pain is bad, pain to where you can't move is VERY bad- don't ignore it.

GhostGirl811, you should see a doctor. Pain like that is definitely not normal. But it's hard to say what it was (and none of us here are doctors). I think you can get gall bladder disease even if you're young, but it could be so many other things... It could be a kidney stone, even. Do you drink enough water?

Jay

well i dont drink any water, i know crazy, but ive been addicted to caffine for as long as i can remember ide drink 4-6 cans a day but now im down to 2 which i only drink when i eat, twice a day but ill occasionaly have a little snack and take a drink, thats my hardest thing right now just starting

I had a blocked bile duct before they finally figured out I had a gallstone trapped in there, my liver was spasming, it was excruciating. Long story short, the nurse asked me after my surgery if I had recently lost a lost of weight. I had been going to Jenny Craig and had lost 30 lbs. Nurse said if you lose too quickly that can cause stones to form, and that they saw it all the time. I think that's why I'm hesitant to this day to lose fast, I'm taking it nice and slow from here on out.

well i dont drink any water, i know crazy, but ive been addicted to caffine for as long as i can remember ide drink 4-6 cans a day but now im down to 2 which i only drink when i eat, twice a day but ill occasionaly have a little snack and take a drink, thats my hardest thing right now just starting

Oh dear--I didn't drink enough water either, and that's how I developed kidney stones. I would bet that's what the pain was. But again, I'm just guessing.

Try this. Drink a small glass of water before you drink every soda. And try to drink a small glass every hour that you're up and about. I don't mean any 16 ounces! Just a small cup would be better than not drinking at all.